Amman-based Souqfann, which soft-launched in late 2018, already stocks more than 800 high-quality products from 60 approved artists on its website and mobile app.

“For MENA artisans, marketing, packaging and shipping are the main challenges preventing them generating an income from their work,” says founder and chief executive, Sami Hourani.

“A lot of international organisations try to provide grassroots support, giving them training on business development, but usually what these artisans know is their craft. That’s what they’re good at – you can’t make her a marketeer or a business developer or a customer relations expert.”

He continues: “Her job is to create beautiful craftwork, so our idea is to enable them to focus on their talents and their handicraft, while the other aspects are handled by us.”

Souqfann takes care of marketing and sales, payment, packaging and shipping, and currently stocks goods from artisans from Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Territories with plans to expand its geographical reach. The startup’s biggest destination markets at the moment are the GCC, Europe and the United States. From April, buyers will be able to pay online with credit and debit cards. Previously, payment was via PayPal or cash-on-delivery, while deliveries are provided by DHL.

In return, Souqfann takes a 20-30 percent commission depending on the product and the vendor. It has already generated $10,000 in revenue in the first 10 weeks of 2019, and should achieve a full-year turnover of around $250,000. The company expects to increase this to $1.25 million in 2020.

“For 2019, we aim for 20 online purchases every day at an average of $35 per item,” says Hourani, 32. “That will provide around $190,000 for the artisans and $60,000 for the company. We’re helping people who are really in need – outside of Amman, poverty and unemployment are rife. Vendors are telling us that the $300 a month they’re now making through souqfann has changed their lives.”

Fresh from winning the Youth Solutions Award at the World Government Summit in Dubai in February, Souqfann is currently validating a further 300 artisans to ensure all goods are of high quality, and the platform is adding two new vendors and 25-30 new products every week.

“We’re growing slowly to ensure we stock only quality goods,” says Hourani, a seasoned tech entrepreneur who in 2013 founded FORSA, an educational portal that today attracts 30,000-40,000 daily users and has over 500,000 registered users.

Currently, Souqfann receives the products from artisans and conducts quality control checks before packaging them and shipping to the buyer.

“In this industry, quality is everything. Later, it will be less centralised, with vendors who have demonstrated a long track record able to ship directly.”

The company currently has eight employees covering logistics, graphic design, photography, programming and marketing.

Global non-profit Oxfam provided seed funding to enable Souqfann to begin technical development, while UNESCO has also contributed. Oxfam will provide a further grant to help fund the company’s operations in 2019, says Hourani. Jordan’s Ministry of Tourism is providing marketing assistance, while Souqfann aims to secure Series A funding in late 2019.

“We first want to show more traction, increase sales volumes and revenues and expand the number of products and vendors before we seek investors,” he concludes. “We’ve no funding issues but will need more money to expand our marketing.”